The Amsterdam UMC has started a lawsuit against Ronald Plasterk and biotech company CureVac over the patent issue that came to light in the spring of 2024 after revelations in NRC. This showed that after his term as minister, Plasterk (67) developed patents for a cancer therapy with Amsterdam UMC scientist Jan Koster, but then claimed them as the sole inventor. Plasterk then privately concluded a multi-million dollar deal with CureVac, at the expense of the academic hospital.
The Amsterdam UMC is now claiming co-inventorship and co-ownership of patents and patent applications through a civil lawsuit. In addition, the hospital wants compensation from both Plasterk and CureVac. A hospital spokesperson confirmed this.
The spokesperson does not want to say how much the hospital is demanding: “We are not making any statements about amounts at this time, but these are of course related to the sales value of Plasterk’s company Frame Therapeutics to Curevac, and the potential value of the patent applications themselves.”
Biotech startup
The patents that Plasterk appropriated as sole inventor formed the basis for the biotech startup Frame Therapeutics, which he founded in 2019 with business partners. They sold that company to biotech company CureVac in 2022 for 32 million euros. Half of that amount was dependent on future results. At the time of the sale, the patent applications alone were worth more than 6 million euros, according to CureVac’s annual figures.
Jan Koster was passed over as co-inventor, the Amsterdam UMC was left behind and cancer patients missed out on experimental treatment, as the NRC study showed. Due to the acquisition, an important clinical trial involving lung cancer patients with new therapies based on the patents could not proceed. CureVac thus prevented the development of a cancer therapy that would compete with their own cancer vaccines.
According to the Amsterdam UMC, Plasterk and CureVac “acted unlawfully”. When asked, the hospital stated in a written explanation: “The point is that the rights of both Jan Koster and Amsterdam UMC have not been respected. And that needs to be fixed. These patent applications largely arise from knowledge financed with public money, so part of the proceeds should really benefit the public domain.”
What is special is that the Amsterdam UMC submits its claims not only to CureVac as the current owner of the patents, but also to the private individual Plasterk. “He knew, or should have known, that Jan Koster was a co-inventor through his contribution and he did not mention this on the application, thus depriving Amsterdam UMC of ownership rights,” according to the hospital’s written statement.
The Amsterdam UMC leaves the question of which part of the damage will be borne by Plasterk and which part by CureVac, if the damage claim is awarded, to the judge.
Dragging affair
The lawsuit puts an end to a months-long attempt by the Amsterdam UMC to find a solution with Plasterk and CureVac without court intervention to a protracted affair that grew into a political integrity issue.
Former minister, scientist and Telegraphcolumnist Plasterk became an informant in November 2023 on the recommendation of PVV leader Geert Wilders. He had just finished being an informant when NRC published in March how Plasterk had passed over scientist Jan Koster and the Amsterdam UMC. The hospital and Plasterk spoke extensively to NRC in the weeks before publication and jointly took the position that Plasterk was right to claim the patents. That changed after the NRC publication. The hospital withdrew its support for Plasterk and started its own investigation.
During that investigation, PVV leader Wilders Plasterk put forward as the prime minister candidate. The patent issue became so heated that Plasterk withdrew as a candidate for prime minister in May.
Shortly afterwards he stated in interviews with Het Financieele Dagblad and with Jeroen Pauw on television that “about everything” that NRC had previously written down was incorrect; and that he had received prior written permission from the then chairman of the board of the university hospital for his patent sale. Despite repeated requests from NRC, Plasterk never provided the email that would prove this. The Amsterdam UMC denies that permission. “These patent applications were not discussed by Plasterk, so our then chairman of the board Romijn did not know of their existence,” a spokesperson previously told NRC.
That was in August 2024. At that time, the Amsterdam UMC announced that its own internal investigation into, among other things, email exchanges between Plasterk and employees of the academic hospital, confirmed NRC’s previous findings. This established for the Amsterdam UMC that Plasterk had applied for patents in his own name prior to and during his professorship in 2018 and 2019, while the scientific work and inventorship were largely left to full-time Amsterdam UMC researcher Jan Koster and therefore to the hospital. belonged.
At the end of August, the Amsterdam UMC therefore seized the patent applications, on which Plasterk is still listed as the sole inventor. That seizure is now being continued in court. Plasterk runs a major financial risk with the claim addressed to him personally.
The 16 million euros that Plasterk and his partners received immediately upon acquisition in 2022 were paid out in CureVac shares. After takeover, the value of those shares fell without recovering. The shares now have only about a fifth of the value they had at the time of the takeover.
‘Sole inventor’
Plasterk gave NRC the following written statement in response to the upcoming lawsuit: “Until very recently, for more than five years, the Amsterdam-UMC has fully supported the view that I am the sole inventor on this patent application. The Amsterdam-UMC explicitly stated this less than a year ago NRC confirmed. Moreover, the then chairman of the Board of Directors confirmed in writing that Amsterdam-UMC did not or would not claim any patent. I have acted in complete good faith at all times. The Amsterdam-UMC suddenly changed its mind last spring (during the cabinet formation) and apparently finds it necessary to submit this case to the court. This is primarily a matter between Amsterdam-UMC and CureVac, which has been the owner for two years. I will of course make my contribution to the procedure.”
NRC again asked Plasterk for a copy of that written confirmation from the then chairman of the Board of Directors. This time too, Plasterk did not respond.
CureVac confirms that it has been subpoenaed, but will not comment on the proceedings.
It is not yet known when the substantive proceedings against Plasterk and Curevac will be heard by the court in The Hague.